1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to audio and video processing systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to a distributed audio and video system and method of utilizing the same.
2. Art Background
Audio and video can now be processed digitally. Analog audio or video signals are sampled and converted to digital signals. The digital signals can then be digitally processed, e.g., filtered, equalized, mixed, recorded, etc. Audio/video (A/V) processing devices are typically configured to perform a particular task. Many different processes performed can be categorized as digital signal processing. Thus the A/V processing devices typically include one or more digital signal processors (DSPs) which are designed to perform a particular process. Software configurable DSPs enable a DSP to be configured to perform a particular process at time of initialization of the DSP. However, even with configurability of DSPs, the user of the A/V device is limited to the DSP bandwidth and available resources of the device.
Typical A/V systems, which may include multiple user workstation devices, such as those found in television or movie studios, only execute tasks on individual devices. Thus, if the resources or bandwidth on a single device is not available the task is not performed or is deferred until the bandwidth and resources are available.
The system and method of the present invention provides a structure and method for implementing a configurable and scalable A/V system that enables a user to perform processes across one or more A/V processing devices coupled together via a network. In one embodiment, a plurality of configurable A/V systems are coupled via a network. At least two of the A/V systems include digital signal processors (DSPs) that are programmable. The A/V systems also include other resources, such as data storage, synchronizers, analog to digital converters, digital to analog converters, etc., to support the variety of audio/video processing to be performed.
In one embodiment, the user inputs at least one task to performed. The task is broken down into basic processing components or primitives. These primitives are defined in a processor descriptor block maintained by the system. The processor descriptor block indicates the processing requirements and distributability of the process across the network. For example, in one embodiment, the processor descriptor block identifies the number of cycles necessary to perform the process, any resource dependencies, and whether the process can be performed across multiple networked systems. A control process therefore references the process descriptor block and determines the bandwidth and resource requirements. The bandwidth and resource requirements are then compared to the device and system configurations and allocations to determine if the primitive can be performed using available bandwidth and resources in the device and devices coupled via the network. If it can be performed, the DSPs and resources are allocated and noted in an allocation list. The DSPs allocated are then configured to perform the particular processes to be performed such that the primitive processing can be executed using the allocated DSPs and resources.